Dow slips 100 points as tensions with N.Korea escalate

Javier Moore |Sunday, August 13, 2017

US STOCKS-Wall Street swings lower after Trump warns North Korea

On Thursday, the three major US indexes logged their worst performances since mid-May (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/US-stocks-set-up-for-another-day-of-losses-as-north-korean-tensions-simmer-2017-08-10) in a session dogged by geopolitical concerns.

The CBOE Volatility Index .VIX , a barometer of expected near-term stock market volatility, closed at its highest since the election. Eastern time. The Dow Jones industrial average slid 69 points, or 0.3 percent, to 22,016.

Computer hardware, semiconductor, and retail stocks are also seeing considerable weakness, while gold stocks are among the few groups bucking the downtrend.

Markets have been lifted from a state of inertia as geopolitical tensions have ramped up following the United Nations' decision to impose sanctions against North Korea's rapidly developing nuclear weapons program, leading to the latest war of words between the countries. "I would expect the markets to react again pretty negatively to any more tough talk from either side, but for now, everybody seems to have settled down, and we'll see what happens".

The indicated US market moves reflect a selloff across global stock markets Friday.

Heading into Thursday, some 89 percent of the companies in the S&P 500 had reported quarterly results.

The September crude contract was up 20 cents to US$49.76 per barrel and the September natural gas contract was up seven cents to US$2.95 per mmBTU. Australia was off 1.2 percent. The Russell 2000 index gave up 1.7 per cent to 1,372.54. The euro slid to $1.1732 from $1.1752. Britain's FTSE 100 sank 1.4 percent.

The influential financial stocks were among the biggest drags on the index, with Royal Bank of Canada down 1.5 percent to C$92.88, and Manulife Financial Corp falling 4.7 per cent to C$24.43, its largest drop since early August a year ago.

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